fear

This past weekend I saw a great faith based movie called “Home Run.” The storyline followed a pro baseball player who struggled to overcome his past hurts and current addictions while being forced by his agent to attend a 12 step Christ centered program called Celebrate Recovery. The movie did a great job of communicating our need for redemption as it highlighted the ministry of Celebrate Recovery. It also communicated a message to me that I needed to hear.

This message came from a single line in the movie that was repeated twice by two different characters. It was first used by the protagonist as he encouraged his skittish son to step closer to the batting plate and then later repeated by this son to his mother who fearfully held back in her relationship with his father. The line… “Nothing good happens when we hold back.

If you follow my blog you know that I feel called to write a book. In my last two blog posts I’ve shared two things that have kept me from moving forward on that project. Frist I shared my desire for a personal word of encouragement from God to get me going. Then last week I admitted that the thing holding me back is me. This week God not only gave me a word of encouragement, He also gave me incentive to step up to the plate and swing for the fence.

I saw through the examples in the movie that when we put our fears aside and stop holding back, God can do great things. It made me ask myself what could happen if I stopped holding back. What good thing could I be missing because I’m afraid to step up to the plate?

As I’ve reflected on the possibilities I’ve come up with a few thoughts:

The worst thing that could happen is that I get hit by the ball. I learned this lesson a long time ago from my mother. Prepare for the worst; expect the best and then nothing can disappoint you. The worse thing that could happen is that I fail at writing… so what; at least I’ve obeyed God and put the results in His hands.

Holding back doesn’t affect just me. When I let fear keep me from stepping up to the plate, (i.e. writing the things God has shown me), I’m limiting what God can do in and through me for others.

Excuses are just that… excuses. I can blame my schedule, lack of knowledge or unclear direction from God- but really those are just excuses keeping me from stepping out in faith. God has already told me what He wants me to do.

What about you? What good thing could you be missing because you’re holding back? Like me, have you been afraid of the sting of the ball? If so, let’s take a step of faith together and see what good things God can do through yielded vessels.

Leave a comment sharing the step God is calling you to take toward the plate today.

Is fear of the unknown holding you back from following your dreams? If so you’re not alone, it held me back too.

If you’re like me, you’ve taken a few steps towards your dream and even spent some time investigating it, but for some reason stopped short of actually engaging it. It’s almost like there is an invisible barrier that keeps us locked out of attaining our dream and locked in to the life we’ve settled for. The barrier is our fear and unfortunately most of us will never make it past it.

You and I aren’t the only ones to stop short of our dreams; two million of God’s chosen people stopped short of their dream too. After living in bondage for 400 years God sent Moses to deliver them and bring them into their dream land. Miraculously God opened the door, actually the Red Sea, and they moved forward toward their dream. Then, when they got close enough to actually see it, they froze in fear. I’ve always wondered what caused them to freeze in fear when God had so obviously brought them out of bondage.